Captain's Quarters -

"...and said no Iranian forces have been arrested ..."
Of course, that's not to say that none have been encountered. Perhaps, they are all reaching room temperature? Saves a lot of expense transporting these people to GITMO.

Sooner or later Washington's going to have to admit the road to peace in Iraq leads through Tehran.

I added an excerpt and link to my 2007.08.19 Politics and National Defense Roundup.

Find them and kill them dead before they kill our warriors...

No questions asked; kill them all... Fight this damn war to win, and the majority of American people will support the mission. Pussyfoot around these terrorist thugs " while they're busy killing our warriors as well as Iraqi civilians" and you lose our support.

Room Temperature now with them all...

FROM: George W. Bush, The White House, Washington DC

TO: Mahmoud Ahme... Ama... Ah, whatever the hell your name is, Tehran, Iran

Listen up, you short little son of a bitch. There's a barren patch about three miles south of the city limits of Tehran. Tomorrow morning, it's gonna blow up. You might hear the sound of the jets as they leave. We're not gonna kill anybody or blow anything up... This time.

But get this and get it good: every time a rocket or bomb stamped "Made in Iran" goes off in Iraq, the bomb line is gonna move 1000 yards closer to Tehran. And the tonnage of bombs dropped is gonna double.

If you keep f***ing with us, dips***, Tehran is gonna become Dresden v2.0 in about two weeks.

Oh, and lest you think you'll personally survive, I enclose some satellite photos of you in various places. As some Americans like to say, We're gonna get you, sucka!

Love and kisses,

W

Concurrently, Hollywood, ever the Patriotic medium, cranks out anti-military films with top-named actors/actresses to affect public opinion in the run-up to the elections.

No coincidence here as the Iranians play to the democrats ideology to weaken American support for the military and resolve in the face of terrorism.

It is a concerted propaganda effort.

I agree with above, don't track them, kill them.

I like the way you think, docjim505.

kill them all.

"kill them all."

Now. Now. you guys are too blood thirsty.

Catch them. Let them go and let some left wing News Rag learn some interesting intelligence that we got from "our spy" in their group.

The intelligence would have to be legit and something that the people would be expected to know. Now we not only killed them, we got their family and friends as well.

This is one of the things that has puzzled me about the Iraq war from the beginning, the inability to control the borders on either the Iranian or Syrian side. But I guess it shouldn't since we can't seem to control our own very well either.

I think the French know a great deal about Iraq, they had very serious relationships and business dealings there during Saddam's regime. Whether that can now translate into something positive, I suppose only time will tell. Perhaps the visit is an indication that the French have decided to hedge their bets, things might eventually turn out well in Iraq and they want to have relationships in place.

The French cannot be trusted. They had no problems with violating the Food for Oil program. The only reason to have them close is to keep an eye on them.

docj

all I have to say is giggles and smirks

Some times you gotta love this stuff.

Gee one of our MIRV warheads has to counter spears chucked up from in the desert.

Hey really that's not good for your side guys.

Short story we have nukes and you ain't getting any. Got that son.

Hey ImaDamnNutJob

If we deliver not by FedEx a few or more MIRVS son you have a real deal problem of delivering all those virgins everyone talks about.

Your slipping past the high honey good looking ones and digging now into the put a flag over their face girls to do it for god and country and maybe a bit beyond.

Lets not talk of a 16 shot ripple fire or maybe a 32 shot go for the gold or any thoughts of multiple players getting into the game.

Let the salami sucker only wonder about all those big noises he hears around his townhouse and all the walls suddenly developing big cracks he cant explain.

I want to see him stutter step thru that before the second wave hits.

I really am divided as to which is better, watching him being vaporised in an instant or sitting here watching him glow in the dark and doing paint by number things in his own blood.

I don't have the answer.

referring to the Iranian forces. "They go back and forth. There's a porous border." ... Gen. Lynch, whose mission is to block the flow of weapons and fighters into the Baghdad area, said Sunni and Shiite extremists have become increasingly aggressive this month, trying to influence the debate in Washington

--- Wow, same problem here at home. At least the illegal aliens in Iraq are being "tracked" by our gov't.

Every big war brings in some new tools.

WW1 brought in the TANK.

WW2 brought in the air force.

And, we've been "playing at wars" since; without being able to decern the many moods of the American people.

Both Korea and Vietnam were mini-disasters. Mini, too, in the sense that few Americans even wanted to be there.

And, it was the place where ON PURPOSE, Harry Truman set General Douglas MacArthur up.

(I believe he did this because he was afraid the GOP would realize it's 1948 error. John Dewey wasn't gonna run again.) And, America's best general was MacArthur.

Now? The press has taken to calling Patraeus "betray-us." As if the old name-calling left still has the mojo. They don't.

But our kids have been softened up by the crap taught, now, in schools, where at least, on the positive side: OUR KIDS ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION!

We're also learning new "thangs."

In Irsrael, there's also a learning curve. For instance, the SIX DAY WAR brought more territory. But this included a million arabs. Turns a victory into a PROBLEM.

In other words? At some point in the future we have to make our minds up what we want to have.

For Irak? Sadly, George W. Bush thought he could do something his dad was unable to do. And, that was hand Irak over to the Saud's on a silver platter.

It's still what's driving things "diplomatically."

While I do believe Israel will never seriously want to go into Cairo. Or Beirut. Or any country that has a huge and useless arab population. NOT> WORTH. IT.

On the other hand? Lebanon didn't just thrive on tourism, though it held that card until Nastrallah blew it up. But Lebanon is home to the best Marijuana grown in the world. And, while the press tells you that "Israel lost" in Lebanon; all that happened is that their two soldiers were dead. And, so there was no successful rescues. Not even the bones. But, YES, on Nasrallah's home headquarters (while he was underground in the Iranian embassy in Beirut.) A lot of stuff was gained from that though. However, NO ONE IS TALKING!

The other thing? A crimp in the Lebanese marijuana; not so much in production, as in the roadways to bring "product to market." Many days were spent scattering bomblets about. And, destroying not just bridges, but donkey trails.

Afgahnistan? Believe what you will; but I'd bet America is now going aout DESTROYING those 8-lane highways we built to help get arsenal in there (to fight the russians.) And, when I heard we were blowing up "mountain hideaway" it dawned on me. ROADWAYS. The stuff the Afghans can't build on their own. SO THAT THEY'LL BEHAVE BETTER.

Was it any different when ROME controlled? Rome stationed its people all over their known map. And, if you thought you'd fool with the Romans, they killed you, your tribes. And, anything in your village. Whatever it "took" to pacify.

Where we are weak, today? Pacification doesn't come easy.

And, the remnants of our elites, academia-wise, and in the media, is still what's working against us all.

The truth?

Well, it's never pretty.

When I want to know more, however, I bypass the lame-brained media. And, I do all my searching for news on the Internet. Been years since I've put on the TV.

I've also learned to read between the lines. Because our military isn't gonna come out and give you "staging" information. Just isn't done.

But you can figure this out.

I think Maliki has invited them in. To announce that we're watching them is obviously informing someone at the Iraqi end that Very Bad Things will happen to him if they manage to arrive at their destination.

Or maybe it's laying the ground work for when we vaporize Mookie. Haven't heard word one about him lately, other than the theory that Basra is lost, it's Mookie's fault, and the Brits are preparing to bug out, fighting all the way.

This has been the problem all along. We are not serious about this war. And for that reason it is no wonder that the U.S. has no credibility, will continue to lose respect worldwide, and will probably lose this war despite Gen. Petraeus and the surge. The next war will also, therefore, be harder to fight and win. Gen Lynch should not be tracking these people, Gen. Lynch's soldiers should be shooting and killing these Iranians-every last one of them- immediately upon each one setting foot on the Iraqi side of the frontier. This report should be about the 50 Iranian infiltrators who have been discovered and summarily executed.

Mookie's not home. He's run away. And, he lives under a rock, somewhere. Perhaps Tehran?

Maliki, meanwhile, has enough problems on his hands, since he's got to deal with the "factions." And, everyone of those "elites" is in it for themselves. Some? Hoping their own malitias can carry the day, "afta" the USA "leaves."

Meanwhile, it would be dumb to leave.

Does it take awhile to "pacify" the natives? You bet! Especially when there's a language barrier, to go along with all the tribal customs inherent among the arabs. Where, alas, they see American good will as our "weakness."

Still, the Iraqis have been paying a high price. Hundreds murdered per week. One rason for this? Arabs, basically, are cowards. Where they can kill women and children? Oh, yeah. They're good at that.

Reminds me of the American Indians, whose "villages" had a TOTEM POLE. You know, that pole was made up of human skulls.

Again, as long as your victims don't own guns, you could go far with hate and fears.

The American military approach, however, has been "slow-go." While we also tried bringing along, water, electricity, and health care products. Oh, and we schmear money around. A lot.

We've also been on a learning curve. Since savagery will be of no help at all. And, it's a key element in training troops.

Well, what's training for?

And, this one is going to go for the long haul. In spite of the Bonkeys, and their crazy defeatism.

What can we hope to gain from Irak? Well, for starters, Saddam didn't run a very religious country.

The neighbor, Iran, alas fell into that lot. And, the people suffer for it. Because at first "they embraced it." And, now? They can't throw it off.

As to the "lost" Iranian Guards let loose in Irak, as long as they are there, they're gonna kill civilians.

So, the most important piece right now is the INTELLIGENCE that bubbles up from the civilians. This is what makes our mlitary stronger. While being stationed there is not a piece of cake. But it could make our military BETTER! How so? It's in the training. And, the knowledge we keep gaining on the ground.

Is it worth it? YEAH! And, it sure beats what we did with the Saud's! Where we gave them all this wealth, no strings attached!

NahnCee

Close you eyes and click those red heeled shoes and it will all be better tomorrow.

Hey anyone seen Toto lately I've got snacks for that puppy.

Carol H

You have a unique way of cutting through the s*it and obscuring it at the same time.

Now that really takes talent.

What nobody realizes is that we have been killing the IRGC. Tracking them and killing them, since the first of the year, when the Qods Force pulled off that raid in Karbala that killed six of our guys.

Has anyone noticed in the news that some of our efforts have been directed at the Jaish al-Mahdhi (that would be the Mookster's thuggee's) as well as assorted Shi'a allies? And that one of these allies happens to go by the tag "Special Groups"?

Guess who they are....

"Special Groups" is a catchall term that allows us to tell the Iranians that the SF and the SEALs are killing Revolutionary Guards Corps without actually saying so. I suspect that the SAS is in on the game, too.

Get used to Carol's 'stream of consciousness' postings. She does it on other sites, too. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they make my head hurt. But she doesn't pull any punches.

Hey, Carol, are ya single?

Although i've been thinking of this quote for weeks, carol herman's mention of macarthur drove it home. There was another US general that didn't live long enough to get fired for his approach to the potential long term troubles of losing in indochina.

You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, every one of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American. June 5th, 1944 - General George S. Patton.

I don't know about the "kill them all" approach, but i know what Patton said about digging a hole and sitting in it. Makes you wonder what the political boundaries would look like if world war II would have played out to the logical point of completion. Its not like we have been building up forces in guam while the middle empire backed by putin has been eyeing taking back tawain for years. Postponing something for a half-century doesn't make the problem go away. Possibly both fortunately and unfortunately, the people hell-bent on ending the circle fall out of favor. A new set of names with the next generation, with perhaps new motivations, but the same old conflict.

As an aside, with the kevin bacon theme going on, general patton was played by george c scott, who was in a movie with sterling hayden whose character stated: "He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids." And coincidentally it is raining outside right now, although i lack the neccessary grain alcohol. I hope everybody has their doomsday devices already on the table, as keeping them secret wouldn't do them any good.

110,000 AK-47s are missing from Iraq Security forces, Pentagon offers no explanation...

Iranian dissidents are fighting back with new vigor, armed with "Soviet-era" arms...

http://tanhorizons.blogspot.com/2007/08/connecting-dots.html

Bennett, I agree that it is puzzling that the Iraqi borders haven't been secured. But is it possible that 'can't' might be 'don't want to?'
If the flypaper theory is true, and I believe it is, there might be a general house cleaning going on in the ME right now in Iraq. The biggest export right now to Iraq is probably the trash every country wants taken out courtesy of the US military.
No matter what General Obama believes, it's easier to have them walk into the fire sack outside Baghdad than it is for us to try and dig them out of Whereeverstan, a slum in Cairo or downtown Bekaa.
The ones that don't get reduced to room tempature eventally go home sadder, wiser and straight back to whoever sent them.
In the case of the 50 IRG's, there is probably a Global Hawk tagging along over them at 60,000 feet as they arrive back at base camp, factory and office...